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Sundown Marathon 2011

It was yesterday, one year ago, I participated in my Sundown Marathon. Back then, it was a truly a remarkable feat of accomplishment. I had only started running recently, and within 5 months of finishing my first half-marathon (and still holds to be my PB/PR for the category), i ran my first marathon.

So once again yesterday, i had the opportunity to participate in the event once again, this time, with the goal of completing a 4:45 (or so i thought).

I took the train to Expo, and boarded the shuttle bus at 8:15. But to my horror, i only arrived at the race venue at 10pm sharp, which was the first flag off. It was quite daunting to stay on the bus for that long, and i quickly dropped my bag the the baggage deposit as soon as the bus stopped us off. Took a quick visit to the gents, a quick warmup, and i was off!

As with last year, the route has not changed. But this year the run was very different, from a physiological and psychological.

Physiological:

I was actually injured with Achilles Tendinitis during the bulking up phase at the start of the year. I ran Terry Fox Run & Urbanathlon with this injury, but thankfully, found out the culprit, and recovered in time prior to the start of the marathon training.

I trained differently than from when i started running; back then, i just kept running 3 x 10k’s every week. This year, with the help of Alif, i did:

Despite all that, Passion Run exposed me to the immediate problem of cramping, which i dread and fear. This year, with the help of a small sample bottle of deep heat rub that i brought along to this run, i countered this problem, but only so fairly.

Psychological:

After having run races for the 3rd year, i began to mentally discipline mind to counter fatigue. This is thanks to the book i wrote about in this post, and it is largely influential to me. I felt i could go further mentally, but only to be hampered by my physical body.

But because of this, there was pivotal moments in the race where i felt my mind and my body became disconnected; i ran with my mind feeling no pain, but i knew my body had to stop for awhile before it bonked out; i quickly rejoined the links between those two so that i could finish the run in one piece.

This run was a great run overall despite the traffic jam. The volunteers were supportive, lively and helpful, especially considering that they had to work all the way to the end of the race. If you’re a volunteer and reading this, many thanks to you for helping us during the course of the race!

I’d also like to thank the various runners who were around me for helping to pace and push myself during times when i had to stop due to my leg not being able to hold up. The last 3km were especially crucial where i pushed it all the way. Many thanks to you all.

I don’t feel too disappointed i wasn’t able to reach my target time of 4:45, but i did however reach a new personal best for the 42k category with my preliminary time of 5:01:22.